GetShowsByIdEpisodes returns incomplete MediaSources for non-admin users since 4.9.x

[PiliPili 0]

Hi,

I noticed a behavior change in recent Emby 4.9.x versions regarding the GET /Shows/{Id}/Episodes endpoint.

Observed behavior:

When calling this endpoint with Fields=MediaSources,Path to retrieve all episodes in a season:

• Admin account: Each episode's MediaSources array contains all available versions (e.g., 3 versions per episode if the item has 3 merged alternate versions).
• Non-admin account: Each episode's MediaSources array contains only 1 entry (the default version), even though the same item has multiple merged versions visible in the web UI.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Have a TV show with episodes that have multiple alternate versions merged together.
2. Call GET /Shows/{SeriesId}/Episodes?SeasonId={SeasonId}&Fields=MediaSources,Path using an admin API key → each Item has multiple entries in MediaSources.
3. Call the exact same endpoint using a non-admin user API key → each Item has only 1 entry in MediaSources.

Additional observations:

• The single-item endpoint GET /Users/{UserId}/Items/{ItemId} with the same non-admin user does return all MediaSources correctly. So the limitation appears to be specific to the bulk episodes listing endpoint.
• The API documentation states this endpoint only "Requires authentication as user" with no mention of different response payloads for admin vs. non-admin roles.
• This also affects GET /Users/{UserId}/Items?Ids=... when querying multiple items at once — non-admin users receive only 1 MediaSource per item.

Impact / Use Case:

This change makes it impossible for non-admin users to programmatically build a season playlist that respects a specific version preference. For example:

• A user has a TV show where each episode has multiple merged versions (e.g., different subtitle/source variants). They want to play through the season using a consistent version.
• Previously, calling the Episodes endpoint once would return all MediaSources, allowing the client to pick the preferred version for each episode and build a coherent playlist.
• Now, non-admin users only see one (default) version per episode from this endpoint. The result is a playlist with mixed, inconsistent versions across episodes — some episodes get version A, others get version B, depending on whichever the server chose as default.
• The only workaround is to call the single-item endpoint individually for every episode in the season, which feels unnecessarily heavy when a single bulk endpoint used to handle this.

Environment:

• Emby Server version: 4.9.5.0
• OS: Linux (Docker)

Questions:

1. Is this an intentional change? If so, could the documentation be updated to reflect the difference in response between admin and non-admin users?
2. If intentional, is there a recommended way for API consumers to retrieve all available MediaSources for a season's episodes in a single request as a non-admin user?
3. Would it be possible to revert this behavior so that non-admin users receive the full MediaSources in bulk endpoints as before? This change has caused real inconvenience for users who rely on version selection to maintain a consistent playback experience across a season.

Thanks for any clarification.

[Abobader 3503]

Hello PiliPili,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[nekoda 0]

I am experiencing the exact same issue.  Everything was working perfectly prior to the 4.9.0.x updates. However, after updating the server to the latest version, ⁠GetShowsByIdEpisodes⁠ returns significantly less data (incomplete ⁠MediaSources⁠) for non-admin users. This regression has been quite frustrating. I really hope Luke and the team can consider reverting to the previous logical behavior.

[PiliPili 0]

Just to add a quick follow-up observation regarding this issue:

I did some further testing and confirmed that if a non-admin user queries the single-item endpoint (GET /Users/{UserId}/Items/{ItemId}) or the playback info endpoint (POST /Items/{Id}/PlaybackInfo), the API correctly returns ALL available MediaSources for that episode.

Since non-admin users clearly have the permission to view and access all merged versions via single-item requests, restricting the bulk listing endpoint (GET /Shows/{Id}/Episodes) to only return 1 MediaSource seems highly inconsistent and illogical.

Currently, this inconsistency forces API consumers to make dozens of individual single-item requests just to build a proper version-aware season playlist. This completely defeats the purpose of having a bulk episodes endpoint and unnecessarily increases server load.

Hopefully, this inconsistency can be addressed so that the bulk endpoint matches the behavior of the single-item endpoints.